Dr. Ozzie Smith on "Two Very Different Banquets"

Dr. Ozzie Smith reflects on this week's Day1 sermon, "Two Very Different Banquets" by the Rev. Dr. Barbara Lundblad.

Amen, Dr. Lundblad!  Mark's way of telling competing stories is somewhat cathartic.  Admittedly, I had never thought about these two stories in this way, but neatly thought of them as separate and important pericopes.  Dr. Lundblad makes a poignant observation of Herod's choosing of the greedy empire over God's eternal and steadfast love.  The empire and the eternal are always in an ongoing tension.  The tension between hunger and war is raised to a point that we cannot ignore it in this message.  Yet, just as Herod's banquet is hard to hear, so is the hearing that we as a nation also seem to find money for guns rather than groceries.  Right in our own living theater are two very different banquets of war and hunger--the former is funded while the latter is not.

 

This is definitely an "ouch" sermon that won't bode well with the patriots among us.  Yet, Rev. Lundblad has made the message live in our hearing and living space--it's a five hundred pound Goliath in our closets.  The task before us is overwhelming when we decide to feed rather than fight.  I pray that cool, thoughtful, and anointed minds will prevail as we seek to feed the hungry and clothe the naked.  Thanks Dr. Lundblad for a very bold and challenging message.  Thanks Day1 for the lift!

 

--Ozzie Smith

Comment by the Rev. Dr. Billy Cox:

This is a highly provocative sermon by Dr. Lundblad. Caring for the needy, whoever they are, and wherever they are, is always where the rubber hits the road for the Christian Church. 

--Billy Cox

Comment by the  Rev. Beth Royalty:

Thanks, Barbara Lundblad. Very good. I've posted it on my Facebook page as a link because the Episcopal Church has just started our triennial national convention, and this is so timely as we debate our financial and theological priorities.

--Beth Royalty